CC:
Got a question for you. Ever seen a water pump that looks like this, this, or even this? Well, those little pock marks, it’s not a metal eating worm. It’s actually cavitation and it’s a very destructive force inside the engine. So how do you prevent that? Well, here’s an explanation that you may get, and it’s also a cool party trick. So if I took this beer bottle, took off the cap, and then struck it with this hammer, where do you think it would break? Well, it doesn’t break at the neck. It actually breaks at the bottom. This is cavitation at work. In other words, when I hit this, the fluid moves up the bottle and it causes the fluid to separate from the side of the glass. When this happens, well, it creates a void, and into that void goes hot steam. When that hits the glass, it can even break it as it expands outwards.
So how does this apply to a water pump and coolant? Well, the reality of it is, is it’s cavitation too. When the water pump moves inside the cooling system, it is causing that separation between the impeller and the coolant itself, and you get those bubbles and voids of cavitation. This is what’s damaging the housing and also the blades. So how do you prevent this from happening on your customer’s vehicles? Well, it comes down to using the proper coolant and making sure the system is under the correct amount of pressure. The reason why we did this party trick with the cap off is to prove a point. If you have a cooling system that has leaks, or let’s say the cap is not holding at the correct pressure, that is going to increase cavitation because the proper amount of pressure is not there. So just keep in mind, it’s the pressure in the system, and it is also the coolant. If the coolant is not correct for the system, in other words, it doesn’t have the proper viscosity or even the specific gravity, it’s just a little bit off. That can cost cavitation too.
So just keep those two things in mind when you’re servicing your customer’s cooling system, and you’re also going to have a really cool party trick. I’m Andrew Markell. Thank you very much.
This video is sponsored by Auto Value and Bumper to Bumper.
